


Lumpy's Birthday Day

by sarahgirl1998



Category: Happy Tree Friends
Genre: Best Friends, Birthday, Comedy, Cute, Friendship, Gen, Heartwarming, Humor, No Romance, Sneezes and Tickles, Sneezing, Surprises but no Surprise Parties, Tickling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-17
Updated: 2020-03-17
Packaged: 2021-02-28 16:29:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,219
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23190191
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sarahgirl1998/pseuds/sarahgirl1998
Summary: Lumpy decides to spend his birthday with Sniffles in lieu of a party, but Sniffles may still be planning a surprise for him.
Relationships: Lumpy & Sniffles (Happy Tree Friends), Lumpy and Sniffles (Happy Tree Friends), Lumpy/Sniffles (Happy Tree Friends), Sniffles & Lumpy (Happy Tree Friends), Sniffles and Lumpy (Happy Tree Friends), Sniffles/Lumpy (Happy Tree Friends)
Kudos: 2





	Lumpy's Birthday Day

It was a lovely morning in the forest where the Happy Tree Friends lived. The sun had risen into view, and you could hear birds chirping wherever you went. In one of the houses in the forest, Lumpy was sleeping soundly in his bed. Almost as soon as his alarm clock had reached seven, however, he slowly opened his eyes. As he sat up in bed, he rubbed his eyes with his hands, and then yawned quietly into one of them.

“That was one weird dream…” Lumpy mumbled to himself. “What was even happening?”

As he sat on the edge of his bed, however, something occurred to him and he smiled. Today was his birthday. Perhaps something fun or special would happen to him today.

Lumpy stepped out of his bed and headed into the bathroom. He took a warm shower that lasted a few minutes, then dried himself off and brushed his teeth. He then stepped out of the bedroom, walked down the stairs and headed into the kitchen for some breakfast. When he looked into the refrigerator, however, he looked a bit disappointed.

“Huh, that’s odd…” Lumpy commented to himself. “I could’ve sworn I had some more pancake mix and bacon.” He shut the fridge and opened the door to the freezer. “Hmm. No waffles, either.”

“Ah, well…” Lumpy shut the freezer door. “I’ll just have some toast.”

Lumpy placed two pieces of fresh bread in the toaster, then pushed the lever down. As he waited for it to cook, he retrieved a paper plate and a container of butter. When the toaster was finished and popped out two pieces of perfectly browned toast, Lumpy took them out and applied some butter to them. Then he sat down at the table and began to eat.

His breakfast tasted good and all, but he couldn’t help but think it wasn’t enough. Hopefully he could have a chance to run to the store later and buy some more waffles, bacon, and pancake mix.

In a couple of minutes, Lumpy’s plate had been cleaned. He licked the butter and crumbs off his fingers, then got up to wash his hands. Now that his breakfast had been eaten, Lumpy went over to his front door, pulled it open and headed outside.

The first thing he saw was a stray dog, its fur a bit ruffled, that had gotten into his yard. Out of curiosity, Lumpy tried to approach the dog, but it quickly turned and ran away. Lumpy stood there, a bit disappointed that the dog had evaded him, but also curious as to who it was.

“Hmm, that’s odd…” said Lumpy.

He walked away from his door, closing it behind him as he did so, and then made his way through the front yard. Then he walked away from his house and headed off to the park. Maybe there was someone he could hang out with there.

After a few minutes, Lumpy arrived at the park. A few other Tree Friends were there, but they didn’t seem to notice his arrival. Lumpy couldn’t help but wonder if they were planning something for him.

“Are they gonna throw me a surprise party?” Lumpy thought, looking a bit worried. “Those are fun and all, but they’re also really scary…”

Lumpy then took a few deep breaths to calm himself down. Maybe they weren’t going to do that; the best thing to do, he decided, was to not mention a party to any of them. Lumpy smiled to himself, feeling reassured. The next thing he saw, however, was Sniffles walking up to him.

“Hey, Lumpy!”

“Oh, hey, Sniffles!” Lumpy greeted him with a smile. “Um, how are you doing?”

“I’m doing alright,” Sniffles stated. “I’m really excited, too, because I remembered that today’s your birthday. I was wondering if me and all our friends could throw you a party.”

Lumpy’s eyes immediately widened and pupils shrunk when he heard that.

“Lumpy?” Sniffles raised an eyebrow in curiosity. “What’s wrong?”

“Gee, Sniffles, I’d love to have you throw me a birthday party,” said Lumpy, “but I don’t think you should.”

“Why not?”

Lumpy tried to think of a good excuse, then gave a loud sniff as he lowered his eyelids.

“I don’t, uh, feel so good…” He then covered the end of his snout with both of his hands and pretended to sneeze. “Ah-choo! I think I may be catching a cold… Hah-choo!”

Sniffles couldn’t help but chuckle as he heard Lumpy’s fake sneezes. He could tell they weren’t real, although they were amusing to hear. Lumpy rubbed his nose with his forefinger, sniffling again.

“Well, okay,” said Sniffles, “we don’t have to throw a party. But I would like to spend your birthday with you, if you don’t mind.”

“That sounds good, too,” said Lumpy. He twitched his nose a little to make it look like he was going to sneeze again. “Ah, ah… Aaah… Choo!”

Sniffles smiled in adoration, reached into his pocket and pulled out a tissue. He handed it to Lumpy, who was rubbing his nose again with his forefinger.

“Bless you, Lumpy,” said Sniffles.

“Thank you.” Lumpy took the tissue and wiped his nose cutely with it, still giving a few sniffs. “And, um, I might not actually have a cold…”

“It’s alright. It’s not like I couldn’t tell.” Sniffles gave another giggle. “Your fake sneezes are cute, anyway. Now how’d you like to take a walk around town with me? We can stop by any place you want.”

Lumpy smiled and nodded. Then he and Sniffles headed out of the park. As they walked around the town, they passed by a great many buildings, most of which they turned their heads to look at. Finally, they came across a huge department store.

“This looks like a fun place to look around,” said Sniffles.

“You know, it does, doesn’t it?” Lumpy asked in agreement.

“Let’s go inside. Just stay by me, though, so you don’t get lost.”

Lumpy nodded and followed him into the store. There were a variety of different sections of products available, for all ages and genders. Lumpy stood where he was, sparkles in his astonished eyes.

“Wow…” said Lumpy. “I didn’t realize a store could have so much space.”

“It is impressive, isn’t it?” Sniffles replied. “Where would you like to go first?”

One of the sections caught Lumpy’s eye, and he smiled. “Hey, look! They’ve got games!”

He went over to the video game section, with Sniffles following him from behind. In front of them was a TV connected to a Nintendo Wii, and the footage it showed was of Kirby’s Return to Dream Land. Lumpy picked up the Wii Remote that sat next to the Wii and selected the first level of the game.

“I’m gonna play this for a bit, Sniffles,” said Lumpy.

“Okay, then,” Sniffles replied with a smile. “I’m going to go and, um… look at some other games for a while.”

Sniffles then walked away from Lumpy as he began playing, making Kirby gather some stars and suck up some enemies. What Lumpy didn’t know, however, was that Sniffles had just used an excuse of his own. But since he had already been enthralled by the Kirby game he hadn’t played yet, he didn't acknowledge that.

By the time Lumpy had defeated Woody Woods in the first world, Sniffles had returned with a gift bag. It looked like there was something inside it - something wrapped in light blue and yellow paper. Lumpy nodded to himself in satisfaction over his victory, and turned to look at Sniffles.

“Did you see that? I showed that tree who’s boss!”

“Nice going, Lumpy. Let me know when you’re done with that game, okay?” Sniffles smiled at him.

“Actually, I am. And by the way…” Lumpy glanced over at the bag in Sniffles’ hand. “Where’d you get that bag?”

“Bag? What bag?” Sniffles looked over at the bag, and then put it behind his back as he blushed. “Gee, I don’t remember bringing this with me…”

“Ah, it’s alright,” said Lumpy. “It’s probably nothing special, anyway.”

Sniffles nodded, although it was clear that he was hiding something from Lumpy. That being said, Sniffles and Lumpy browsed the store for another handful of minutes, then finally walked out.

“That sure was a nice trip,” said Sniffles. “Now, how about we stop by somewhere to eat?”

“Sounds good,” said Lumpy. “How about the burger joint?”

“Oh, of course!”

With that, Lumpy and Sniffles headed into the burger joint. They saw a Generic Tree Friend working at the counter and walked up to him.

“Hello, how can I help you?” he asked politely.

Lumpy looked up at the menu, and thought about what he wanted to order for a moment. Then he decided.

“I’d like a cheeseburger with just ketchup, a small order of fries and a soda, please,” said Lumpy, “for here.”

The cashier wrote down the order, and then turned to look at Sniffles. “And what would you like?”

“I’d like what he’s having, but could you please make it a kids meal with an ice tea?” Sniffles wanted to know.

The cashier nodded in understanding and wrote down his order as well. As the fry cooks got to work on fulfilling the two orders, Lumpy and Sniffles found a table and conversed.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you order a kids meal before,” said Lumpy.

“Yeah, well,” Sniffles said, trying his best to sound sheepish, “I’m just trying to go easy on the calories. It’s important to watch what you eat, you know.”

“Oh. Yeah, that makes sense,” Lumpy replied.

After a few minutes, their food was ready. Lumpy briefly got up to pay the cashier for it, then brought a tray that held his and Sniffles’ lunch to his table. Then he sat down, and he and Sniffles began to eat.

As Lumpy was contentedly chewing a part of his burger, however, he noticed that the first thing Sniffles did before he ate, was take the little bag out of the kids’ meal and put it somewhere else. Lumpy wondered to himself why he did that, but shrugged it off and continued enjoying his burger.

A few minutes went by, and they were finished with their food and drinks. Lumpy went over to the trash bin to throw out the wrappers, fry boxes and cups, then placed the tray on top of it for someone else to use. Then he and Sniffles walked out of the burger joint, thanking the cashier as they did so.

“So now that we’ve had our lunch, where would you like to go now?” Sniffles wanted to know.

Lumpy thought, then smiled as he got an idea. “How about the toy store? I’ve passed by it a few times when I drive to and from work, but I don’t think I’ve ever been inside.”

“Neither have I,” Sniffles said. “How about we go there?”

Lumpy nodded, and then he and Sniffles walked over to the toy store. When they got there, they were both surprised and amazed to see many aisles of toys and games, some of which were ready to be played with before they could even be bought. They walked around the store and looked at some of the aisles, seeing many different playthings that interested Lumpy.

Just then, however, Lumpy saw something adorable - it was a toy piano shaped like a smiling cat’s head. He went over to the piano, seeing that it could be played before it could be purchased. He touched one of the white keys and heard a meow in that key. He pressed another key, heard another meow. A smile appeared on his face as he got an idea.

Lumpy began to play a song on the piano, trying to replicate the melody exactly as he heard it a while back. As he did, he made up his own lyrics and hummed them to himself.

“Check it out, all you boys and girls, someone special’s returned  
Your favorite plumbers are now on the Wii U  
It’s a brand new adventure everybody can join  
New power ups to try and baddies to beat  
There’s so much to see and so much to do…”

Seeing his chance, Sniffles walked away from Lumpy for about a few minutes. He found some rather cute toys that he thought Lumpy would like, then took them straight to the cashier. After he’d paid for them with his own money, he asked if they could wrap the toys for him. When the cashier asked him why, all Sniffles said was that they would be for “someone special.” As he did so, Lumpy kept playing his favorite Mario songs on the cat piano, listening to the meows and improvising his lyrics, not noticing some clinking sounds coming from a jar next to him.

“Who’s this little baby, wearing a cute red hat?  
I wonder if he’s lost, but I’ll take care of that  
I know his mama’s somewhere, so find her’s what I’ll do  
Don’t worry, baby, I’m-a protect you

I am wandering this forest maze  
I feel like I have been here for days  
Don’t know where I’m going, I’m all on my own  
One thing’s for sure, I’m not headed for home…”

After some time had passed, Sniffles returned to Lumpy with his gift bag. He was still playing with the cat piano, and although Sniffles couldn’t recognize the words he was singing, he could tell he was playing one of his favorite Mario songs.

“Lots of strange creatures live around me  
I wish that I could just leave them be  
But when I find something that I must obtain  
I’ll have to put up a fight, take some pain.

Don’t you worry, Mario, it will be worth it  
Soon you and all your friends will be right out  
And then you, can save the Mushroom Kingdom.”

It was then that Lumpy decided he had had enough. He took his hands off the cat piano and nodded to himself in satisfaction. Sniffles couldn’t help but clap his hands for him.

“That was incredible!” said Sniffles. “Did you play all of that by memory?”

“Yeah, pretty much,” Lumpy replied as he blushed. “I guess I just remembered what songs I enjoyed most, and then tried to play them on this cat piano.”

“Oh, so you can play by ear? Lumpy, I’m so impressed!” Sniffles cooed. “Most Tree Friends have a bit of trouble trying to do that, you know.”

“They do? Gee, I didn’t know that.”

Lumpy then looked over at the jar next to the cat piano. It had been filled with coins from his playing. He picked up the jar and emptied it into his hand, then counted the change with his other hand after he’d put the jar down.

“Hmm, how much did I earn playing all that…” Lumpy muttered. A moment later, he smiled. “Five dollars and twenty five cents!”

“I’m so proud of you, Lumpy!” said Sniffles. “Who would’ve thought you had that much musical potential?”

Lumpy pulled out a little bag where he kept his change, and placed the coins inside. He smiled as he closed the pouch and shook it slightly, listening to the jingling coins inside.

“I’m not sure who gave me all this money,” said Lumpy, “but they must think I’m awesome at this, too.”

“So do I, Lumpy. So do I.” Sniffles giggled a bit.

Lumpy put away his change bag, and then he and Sniffles walked out of the toy store.

“You know, we still have some time before we have to return home,” said Sniffles. “How would you like to stop by that little technology store?”

Lumpy thought for a moment, and then nodded. In less than a minute, they were at the technology store, and they could see that there were TVs playing in the windows. To Lumpy’s surprise, they saw that a Harvey Street Kids episode was playing: first Audrey’s head was shown on the screen, and then the title of the episode, “What Makes You Hic.”

“Oh, boy! My favorite!” Lumpy said in joy.

He and Sniffles quickly went into the store, just as the small amount of opening credits for the episode finished and the episode proper began. They could see a rather large TV screen next to some speakers in front of them, playing the episode.

Lumpy and Sniffles sat down to watch the episode, with Lumpy crossing his legs. He couldn’t help but smirk or giggle each time Audrey hiccuped, while Sniffles found it amusing to watch her struggle to hold her breath. He and Lumpy thought the part where Audrey was blowing into the paper bag and one of her hiccups accidentally made it burst were hilarious, as was the part where she stood on her head and tried to count to twenty-five.

The part where Lotta offered the flowers to Audrey, however, was where their favorite part was located.

“I think I know what’s about to happen,” Sniffles told Lumpy.

“So do I,” said Lumpy. “As someone with hay fever, I know exactly where this is going.”

And they were right. Smelling the flowers caused Audrey to inhale, then give a particularly loud sneeze, which made Lumpy and Sniffles burst into a fit of giggles. And when Audrey let out those three extra sneezes for a bit more relief, Lumpy pretended to sneeze along with them, putting his hand over his mouth. That made Sniffles giggle even more, along with Lumpy rubbing his nose afterward.

When Audrey rubbed her own nose, Lumpy and Sniffles blessed her along with Dot and Lotta. And they laughed with Dot and Lotta after Audrey said the final line of the episode, “Who would’ve thought that sneezing could cure hiccups?”

“Man, that is one awesome episode,” said Lumpy.

“It certainly is,” said Sniffles. He then stood up. “Oh, would you excuse me?”

He walked away from Lumpy, who kept watching the TV and hoping for another episode to begin. He saw a trailer for new Harvey Street Kids episodes to premiere later in the month, as well as a commercial for some sort of lemonade, but no episode. He shrugged and kept watching.

Finally, Sniffles came back to Lumpy, still having his gift bag in his hand. He didn’t let him know just yet, but he had purchased one more thing that he had wrapped up and placed inside the bag.

“Alright, Lumpy, are you almost ready to go?” asked Sniffles.

“Yeah.” Lumpy stood up, dusting his hands off to rid them of the particles that had been on the floor. “I’m still wondering about the bag, though.”

“I’ll tell you soon. But could you do me a favor first?” Sniffles asked, and Lumpy nodded. “I’d like you to meet me at my house in a few minutes. There’s a little something I’d like you to see.”

“Oh, okay. See you there.”

Lumpy watched and waved as Sniffles headed out of the store. He then walked out of the store himself, seeing that the sky had turned a dark blue shade. Dozens of thousands of stars had appeared in the sky as well, and he could see the crescent moon glowing alongside them.

“It sure is a nice night,” said Lumpy. “I’m so glad Sniffles decided to take me for this day out. I think I’ll reward him by making myself sneeze or giving him a tickle or something.”

As Lumpy walked away from the store and made his way out of town, he admired the many stars in the sky, the lampposts that were switching on, and the sounds of the chirping crickets and hooting owls. After a few minutes, Lumpy made it to Sniffles’ house and knocked on the door. It opened slightly, but he could only hear Sniffles’ voice.

“Everything’s ready, Lumpy,” said Sniffles.

“Everything?” Lumpy raised an eyebrow.

“But before you come in, could you put your hand over your eyes?”

“Oh, sure.”

Lumpy slid one hand up over his eyes so he couldn’t see what was awaiting him inside. Sniffles opened the door entirely, then took his other hand and walked him into the house. He guided him to just the right spot, and then let go.

“Okay, you can look now,” said Sniffles.

Lumpy removed his hand from his eyes - and they quickly went wide with surprise and disbelief.

There were some streamers on the walls, and there was a blue banner that read “Happy Birthday” in a yellow font. There was a large pile of envelopes on the table next to a white, styrofoam box that was labelled “To Lumpy,” and next to those envelopes was a bottle of light pink substance. And on the couch, Lumpy could see the very bag that Sniffles had been carrying with him.

“Oh, my goodness…” Lumpy said to himself. “Sniffles, it’s so pretty…!”

“It certainly is, Lumpy,” Sniffles replied. “This was my surprise for you, and I call it, a mini birthday party.”

Lumpy couldn’t help but giggle at the words “mini birthday party,” but his expression told Sniffles that he was very happy.

“Oh, Sniffles, thank you so much!” said Lumpy. “And you didn’t even yell surprise.”

“That’s because I knew how much it would scare you. So I didn’t,” said Sniffles with a smile.

Lumpy made his way over to the table, placed his hand on the lid of the styrofoam box and opened it up. Inside was a cupcake with chocolate frosting, as well as pink and white sprinkles. Lumpy smiled and took out the cupcake, his face filled with joy.

“Cool! My favorite!”

He took a bite into the cupcake and began chewing. It was delicious, and it didn’t even bring a tickle into his nose until he had finished the final bite. Lumpy licked the excess frosting off the wrapper of the cupcake and dropped it in the trash.

“Thank you, Sniffles, that tasted great,” said Lumpy.

“You’re welcome, Lumpy, I made it just for you,” Sniffles replied.

As he said that, however, Sniffles noticed that Lumpy’s nose was twitching. The flour in the cupcake was finally tickling his nose. Lumpy lowered his eyelids and tilted his neck back as he inhaled a few times.

“Ah, ah… Haaaah-chyoo!”

He didn’t cover his mouth when he sneezed, but luckily, Sniffles didn’t see a hint of saliva or mucus emerge from his mouth or nose. Besides, the sneeze sounded adorable. Lumpy then breathed a sigh of relief, smiling as he rubbed his nose with his forefinger.

“Aww! Bless you, Lumpy!” said Sniffles. “That was a VERY cute sneeze!”

“Thank you.” Lumpy continued to rub his nose. “And yeah, it did sound cute.”

Lumpy then took a look at the pile of envelopes that had been next to the box that had contained his cupcake. It looked like there were a lot...

“Hey, Sniffles? How many of those letters are there?”

“Not too many. Twenty,” Sniffles joked, which led Lumpy to chuckle. “But you can open them all if you’d like.”

Lumpy nodded in understanding and walked over to the pile of envelopes. One by one, he opened them and read them. They were all birthday cards from each of the Happy Tree Friends. Cuddles, Giggles, Toothy, Petunia, Flaky and Lammy had all sent him a card each. So did Nutty, Pop, Cub, Russell, Handy, Mime, Flippy and Splendid. Even Cro Marmot, Disco Bear, Lifty and Shifty had sent him a birthday card. And the last one Lumpy had read was from Sniffles; he’d drawn it himself.

On the front of the card was a drawing of Mario eating a slice of birthday cake, with Luigi, Peach and Yoshi watching in happiness. The inside of the card read, “To my best friend forever, Happy Birthday. Love, Sniffles.”

“Oh, Sniffles, thank you so much!” said Lumpy. “It’s really cute and sweet!”

Sniffles giggled at his reaction. “You’re welcome, Lumpy. And you may want to send an email to all our other friends to thank them for the cards they sent you - even if they didn’t come, it’s a good thing they still remembered your birthday.”

“I definitely will,” Lumpy promised.

At last, Lumpy went over to the couch and sat down on it. He looked over at the bag, then grabbed the handles gently and brought it towards him. Sniffles sat down next to him to watch him open his presents. Lumpy pulled out the first gift and removed the wrapping paper from it.

It was a copy of the Nintendo Switch double-rerelease game, Yoshi’s Story + Yoshi’s Woolly World. Yep, that was what it was called.

“Wow! My two favorite Yoshi games on Switch?!” Lumpy said. “Thanks, Sniffles!”

“I think you’re going to have lots of fun with that one,” said Sniffles with a giggle.

Lumpy placed the game back in the bag, and then reached back into it to pull out the next gift. He removed the wrapping paper from it, and then smiled in happiness.

It was a plush toy of Lotta, as she appeared in Harvey Street Kids.

“Oh, it’s so cute!” said Lumpy. “What could be better than a Lotta toy?”

Sniffles smiled. “I think you’ll find your answer in the bag.”

Lumpy placed the Lotta toy aside, and then reached into the bag again. This time, he pulled out two of the gifts. When he removed the wrapping paper from them, his eyes sparkled in disbelief, surprise and complete happiness.

They were plush toys of Audrey and Dot, also as they had appeared in Harvey Street Kids.

“Oh, my gosh! This is awesome!!” Lumpy held the toys in his arms and gave them a big hug. “They’re so, so cute!! Thank you, thank you!!”

Sniffles giggled at his reaction. “You’re welcome, Lumpy. May I guess that I had you at the Audrey toy?”

Lumpy nodded, putting down the Dot toy for a brief moment to play with the Audrey toy. He felt her hair, tugged her cheek gently, and tickled the side of her neck with his forefinger. Sniffles couldn’t help but giggle from watching him do this.

“Sniffles, I can’t thank you enough for these toys,” Lumpy finally said. “You don’t know how much I’ve wanted to have plushies of the Harvey Girls!”

“That’s why I bought them for you,” said Sniffles, “so you could play with them and make up your own adventures about them whenever you wanted.”

Lumpy smiled gratefully at his comment, and then finally put the Audrey toy down. He then reached into the bag once more and pulled out a small white bag. It must have been from the kids’ meal Sniffles had ordered earlier today. Lumpy ripped the end of it open, then reached into it and pulled out what was inside.

It was a small plush toy of Tootie, just small enough to hold in his hand.

“Oh, Sniffles, it’s adorable!” said Lumpy. “Thank you so much!”

“I knew I’d made the right decision to get a kids meal,” said Sniffles with a smile.

Lumpy then put down the Tootie toy and pulled the last gift out of the bag. When he removed the wrapping paper from it, he smiled once again in surprise and joy.

He’d gotten a DVD of Tootie episodes, a different one from the one he’d gotten on his birthday a couple of years ago.

“Aww!” said Lumpy. “Thank you, Sniffles! I can’t wait to watch this!”

“And even better,” Sniffles replied, “the back says it has our favorite Harvey Street Kids episode included as a bonus feature!”

“Oh, no way! That’s awesome!” Lumpy said. He put the DVD back in the bag, along with the plush toys of Audrey, Dot, Lotta and Tootie. “Sniffles, thank you so, so very much for those gifts!” He reached over and hugged Sniffles, wrapping both arms around his body.

“You’re welcome, Lumpy,” said Sniffles, returning the favor. “But it’s not over yet, I have one more surprise for you…”

They let go, and then Sniffles got up and walked behind the sofa. Then he came back with the bottle of pink substance.

“Do you see this, Lumpy?”

Lumpy nodded.

“Can you guess what it is?” Sniffles giggled audibly.

Lumpy thought for a moment, but then said, “Actually, I don’t think I’m going to. I think I know exactly what it is…”

Sniffles smiled, then removed the lid from the bottle. He began to sprinkle it into Lumpy’s face, who winced a bit as his nose began to twitch and his nostrils began to flare up. He was going to sneeze.

“Aaaah… Haaaah…” Lumpy inhaled, tilting his upper body backward. A final inhale later, he exploded. “HAAAAAHHHH-CHYEEEEEEWWWWW!!!”

Lumpy shot his neck forwards as he released the sneeze, with a good amount of spray being released from his mouth. Sniffles giggled audibly when he heard the sneeze, and giggled even more when Lumpy broke into a sneezing fit.

“AHHHH-CHEEEEEEW!!! HAH-CHEWWWWWW!!!” Lumpy covered his mouth with his hand as he then gave three rapidfire sneezes. “AH-CHOO, HAH-CHOO, AH-CHU!!! HAAAAH-CHUUUUU!!! AHHHH-TCHOOOOO!!! Aaah, aaaah… AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH-CHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!”

That final sneeze was the biggest and loudest of all, but it felt so good. Sniffles couldn’t stop giggling as Lumpy happily sniffled and rubbed his nose with his forefinger.

“Awww! Gesundheit, Lumpy~!” said Sniffles.

“Thank you.” Lumpy replied as he continued to rub his nose. Sniffles handed him a soft white handkerchief, which Lumpy wiped his nose adorably with. “By the way, what was in that sneezing powder?”

“Oh, all sorts of things,” Sniffles replied. “Pollen, dust, some feather fluff, and pepper. I couldn’t bring myself to let you have your birthday without sneezing much, so that’s why I made the powder.”

“Oh. Thank you so much, Sniffles, this is one of the best birthdays I’ve ever had!”

“You’re welcome, Lumpy,” said Sniffles, once again. “And as one last little treat, how would you like to stay the night?”

“Oh, absolutely!” said Lumpy. “Thank you!!”

Lumpy then looked back over at his bag, reached into it and pulled out the Tootie DVD.

“What do you say we watch this?” Lumpy suggested.

“Sure!” Sniffles nodded in excitement. “I was thinking it’d be the best way to close your birthday.”

Lumpy stood up, went over to the TV and switched it on. Then he opened up the DVD’s case, pulled out the disc and put it in the DVD player. As it loaded, however, Lumpy felt a feather brush his side, making him laugh and drop the DVD case.

“Hahahahaha!”

Lumpy turned to the side, only to see Sniffles holding one of his feather pens in his hand. He’d just tickled Lumpy with it. “Oh, yeah?”

Lumpy placed both of his hands on Sniffles’ sides and began tickling him, sending him into an adorable giggle fit.

“Hehehehehehe, hahahahehehehe!!”

Before he could tickle him any more, Sniffles backed out of the way. Lumpy put his hands down and looked at him playfully. After Sniffles had caught his breath, he began tickling Lumpy again with his feather - on his tummy. Lumpy’s laughter started up again.

“Hahahahahahaha!!”

“Coochie-coochie-coo~!” Sniffles teased him as he moved his feather all over Lumpy’s tummy, which made Lumpy laugh even more.

“HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! That, that tickles!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!”

After a few seconds of tickling, the DVD’s main menu finally showed up. When Lumpy and Sniffles saw this, Sniffles stopped tickling his friend, and they sat down on the couch with the remote. Before Lumpy could select “Play All,” however, Sniffles tickled his nose by rubbing the feather underneath his nostrils. Lumpy took a second to enjoy it before he sneezed again.

“Haaaaaaah… CHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!”

“Gesundheit~!” Sniffles said, giggling as Lumpy rubbed his nose with his forefinger.

“Thank you.” Lumpy sniffled rather audibly, finger under nose. “Um, I think I need to blow my nose…”

Sniffles handed him a tissue, which Lumpy blew and wiped his nose with. Now that he was feeling better, Lumpy selected “Play All” from the DVD menu. The DVD had eight Tootie episodes, and Lumpy and Sniffles watched them all entirely - and later, when they went to check out the Harvey Street Kids episode under the special features, they saw that it was none other than What Makes You Hic. They couldn’t be more surprised or happier.

After almost a hundred minutes had gone by, they had finished all of the episodes. Lumpy yawned into his hand and stopped the DVD, then stepped off of the couch.

“I think I’ve had enough fun for one day,” said Lumpy.

“So do I.” Sniffles yawned into his hand as well, barely audibly. “Let’s go up into my room and lie down."

Lumpy switched off the TV, and then he and Sniffles headed up the stairs into Sniffles’ bedroom. Lumpy stepped into the bed, pulling the covers up over his body as he made sure to leave enough room for Sniffles. Before long, Sniffles stepped in, too, sighing comfortably.

“Good night, Sniffles,” said Lumpy.

“Good night, Lumpy. Happy Birthday.”

Sniffles removed his glasses from his face, placed them on the end table and then switched off the light. As the room filled with darkness, Lumpy and Sniffles’ eyes slowly fell closed. From that point onward, the two of them could hear crickets chirping outside.

Several hours of sleep later, the sun began to rise, changing the color of the sky from dark blue to a much lighter shade. The sounds of the crickets slowly faded away, and in their place came the sounds of birds chirping. Not long after seven, Lumpy and Sniffles opened their eyes as they awakened. Lumpy yawned into his hand while Sniffles rubbed his eyes.

“Morning, Sniffles,” said Lumpy.

“Good morning, Lumpy,” replied Sniffles.

“Thanks for the wonderful birthday,” Lumpy said as he rubbed his eyes gently. “I don’t think it would’ve been nearly as great without you.”

“Neither do I,” Sniffles said. “And can you keep a secret?”

“I’d been preparing your surprises since the beginning of yesterday. I’m so happy that my hard work paid off - but more importantly, I’m so happy that I managed to make your day the best one ever.”

“I'm happy you did, too,” said Lumpy. He let Sniffles step out of the bed first before he got out with him.

“Now that we’re up, how would you like to have some toaster pastries for breakfast?” Sniffles suggested. “I’ll prepare your favorite flavor, just for you.”

“That sounds good,” Lumpy replied with a smile.

He and Sniffles then headed out of the bedroom and made their way down the stairs. When they arrived at the kitchen, Sniffles placed some toaster pastries into the toaster and pushed the lever down. Then he went to the refrigerator and poured two cool glasses of fresh milk for himself and Lumpy. After some time, the toaster pastries were finished, and Sniffles placed them on a plate before he placed two more in the toaster.

Soon both of their breakfasts were ready. Lumpy and Sniffles sat down at the table with their plates of toaster pastries and glasses of milk, and they began to eat. The pastries and milk were delicious, so both of them had to take their time to make them last. After a few minutes had gone by, however, their plates had been cleaned and their glasses had been emptied.

Now that breakfast was over, Sniffles went into the living room to clean up the trash from the mini birthday party last night. The wrapping paper was thrown away, the styrofoam box was disposed of, and all of the streamers and banners were taken down for next time. As he did this, Lumpy made sure all of the presents that Sniffles had given him, including the Tootie DVD that they had watched last night, were safe in his gift bag and ready to take home.

Finally, the living room was all cleaned up. Lumpy picked up his gift bag and looked over at Sniffles.

“Thanks for everything, Sniffles,” Lumpy thanked him. “All of it was great.”

Sniffles approached him with a warm smile. “It certainly was, Lumpy.”

He and Lumpy then shared a big hug that lasted for quite a few seconds. Then they let go and Lumpy made his way to the front door, then placed his hand on the doorknob, turned it and pulled it open. He turned to Sniffles and waved goodbye to him.

“Bye, Sniffles!”

“See you soon, Lumpy!” Sniffles waved in return as Lumpy walked out of Sniffles’ house and headed home.

It was a beautiful day, with not one cloud in the sky. Lumpy was smiling as he held his bag of presents safely in his hand. When he reached his house, he placed his hand on the doorknob, turned it and pushed the door open. He went inside, shutting the door behind him before he made his way into the living room. He put down the bag, then pulled out his plush toys of the Harvey Girls: first Audrey, then Dot, and finally Lotta. Lumpy gave them all a big hug.

“I’m gonna have lots of fun playing with you and my Tootie plush toy,” said Lumpy, pretending he was talking to the Harvey Girls.

This, indeed, had been one of the best birthdays Lumpy ever had - even if there wasn’t much of a party for him this year.


End file.
